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Edmonton Prospects heading west to Spruce Grove after losing lease on ballpark

Author of the article:

Gerry Moddejonge

Publishing date:

May 23, 2020 • 4 minute read

Edmoton Prospects managing partner Patrick Cassidy, seen here in a file photo taken Jan. 31, 2019, is looking to take his team to Spruce Grove by 2022 after losing the lease on Re/Max Field, where they've spent the past eight seasons.Ed Kaiser/ Postmedia, file

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On Wednesday, the city announced the group, led by former Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup champion Randy Gregg, secured a 10-year lease on the ball park.

And on Friday, the Prospects stepped up to the plate with an announcement of their own, following a period of negotiation over revenue-sharing in order to remain in Re/Max Field. And in keeping with the baseball vernacular, there’s a home run, and then there is running to a new home.

“By 2022, it is our plan to be up and operating in a modern and very exciting venue in Spruce Grove,” read the press release from Prospects managing partner Patrick Cassidy, who expanded on the idea over the phone with Postmedia.

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“Spruce Grove was always on the table for us, it’s ideally set up for a Western Canadian Baseball League franchise,” he said, drawing similarities with the success the defending-champion Okotoks Dawgs have been able to realize after moving from Calgary’s Foothills Stadium. “If it worked there, perhaps it could work here. Down there, they continually finish about third in terms of attendance figures throughout all of college summer baseball, averaging 3,500-4,000 fans a game, year in and year out.

“That’s a community of 25,000 people 20 minutes out of Calgary. Here, we’ve got a community of 45,000 20 minutes out of Edmonton.”

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The club is in the process of finalizing the purchase of 25 acres to develop on the corner of Hwy. 16A and Pioneer Road. But the preference would, of course, have been to remain in Edmonton’s eye-catching river valley ballpark, where they saw an increase in annual attendance from just under 6,000 fans in 2012, to a record-setting 60,000 last season, averaging 2,143 over 28 games to sit 13th overall in summer baseball clubs on the continent.

“We worked hard and passionately in terms of developing our brand there and our fan base,” Cassidy said. “It’s just a wonderful facility and setting and it’s got so many things to offer. We just have to keep moving forward.

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“It’s sad, actually, for the fact that somebody else is coming in there and taking over, maybe has a different vision.”

One that, so far, doesn’t include a baseball team. Not in the WCBL, anyway, who came out with a statement Thursday that there had been no discussions on adding a second franchise in the area, and that the Prospects, as the territorial rights holders in the Greater Metro Edmonton Area, would have to sign off on the notion.

“In terms of another (WCBL) team in our market, they need to come through our front door and have a sit-down discussion and make an offer that makes sense,” Cassidy said. “And then it also still needs to be approved by the league.”

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But the Prospects weren’t too keen on a pitch being made by Gregg’s group earlier in the week that would have had a new team playing out of Re/Max Field side by side with Cassidy’s & Co.

“When people start talking about two franchises when they haven’t even had an official meeting with the league yet, the league gets a little protective,” said Cassidy. “If I was from the outside looking in, I would be saying, ‘Hasn’t the cart been put before the horse a little bit?’ You’re going to sign a 10-year deal with a group who hasn’t necessarily got a team yet?

“It’s not necessarily how I would handle it, but the city has every right to run their business the way they feel works the best.”

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And that leaves a question of whether that level of baseball will even be played out of Re/Max Field next year.

“That’s the whole concept behind territorial protection,” said Cassidy, pointing to the 10-fold increase in attendance the Prospects have earned over the years, only to have a new leaseholder ride a new team in on those coattails. “It’s not like there’s this huge untapped market out there, you have to grow the market. It’s not like you just offer baseball and people show up. We’ve grown it organically over the years.

“At some point down the road, does it make sense for two teams out of the same facility? Maybe.”

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In the meantime, the backwards situation could occur in 2021 where Re/Max Field ends up laying dormant in the summer college circuit, while the Prospects are left looking for other, well, prospects when it comes to playing somewhere else until their new digs are ready.

“We were really hoping, one of our pitches was to extend our contract with the city even one more year so we could roll a lot of our season tickets and sponsorships into that next season,” Cassidy said. “But they were against that, so that puts us in a bit of a spot in terms of next year, but we’re starting to work on possible options to make something happen.”

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